


The Bones of What you Become

by Kattenstoet



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 15:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kattenstoet/pseuds/Kattenstoet
Summary: “Some people will say you don’t deserve a second chance,” murmured the Ghost. “But you won’t be you. So I say..."The Master of Crows, the Brother of the Queen, Prince of the Reef, King of the Scorn and murderer of Cayde-6, Uldren Sov, has been given a new title post-mortem: Guardian of the Light.





	The Bones of What you Become

**Author's Note:**

> There is some violence and character death here, but I don't think it's too graphic/detailed, in relation to what one would usually expect of Destiny. I'll update the warnings if this changes or if anyone suggests otherwise (I'm new to AO3 and not sure what counts as intense violence).

Jolyon is hunkered down on an outcropping of rock, watching a wayward Fallen scout cross the asteroids through the scope of his rifle. He would rather be on Earth, with the Last City in his sights. He knows Uldren betrayed the Awoken- Petra is many things, but she is not a liar. He helped put Uldren in that cell, so the end result shouldn't have surprised him. But that doesn’t stop him from being angry. When Jolyon heard what the Prince had done, the hurt had welled up inside him like a fountain, reminding him of what he had seen in The Black Garden. He had looked Uldren in the eyes as he was led into the Prison of Elders. He could have sworn that there was something dark underneath the man’s distant look, something Darker than anything he had seen outside of that forsaken place- 

Movement draws his eyes back out to the asteroid field. A guardian. Jumping between the floating stones, the distant figure dodges the Fallen scout’s shots and puts a bullet in its head. Ether rises from the body, a physical mirror of its soul escaping its flesh. He hates how they can end life so easily. He watches the guardian as its Ghost appears, apparently deep in conversation. He’s about to turn away when the realization hits. The golden detailing of the cloth and the all-too familiar pattern. It’s _his_. Fashioned- bastardized- into a cape. Jolyon’s face is a mask of disgust.

How dare they take a trophy, after everything else they have cost the Awoken.

Well, he can take things too. Jolyon lines up the scope. He breathes, fires, and the rifle kicks back. The guardian falls. Its ghost turns his way in fear before disappearing. Jolyon makes his way to the body, rapidly but carefully. If the ghost doesn’t see him as a threat, it’ll revive the guardian, and that’s a problem he’s not sure he can handle. Jolyon gets to his kill after a few moments, firing a few warning shots with a secondary pistol. He kicks the corpse out of spite, but it doesn’t feel as gratifying as he had hoped. Leaning down, he tugs at the cape, pulling it free of its tethers. The Ghost materializes in front of his face, and he falls back, startled.

“You can’t just take things that aren’t yours!” The little robot says indignantly.

“Tell that to him,” Jolyon replies angrily. The robot flies in his face and he bats it away. 

“That’s his! It was on him when I rezzed him!” It cries. He dodges its “attacks”, and wonders if this thing is smart enough to know he won’t kill it, or too foolishly brave to care.

“Liar. That belonged to Uldren. He’s buried in the Dreaming City, but that clearly didn’t stop you from looting his corpse,” Jolyon growls.

“I’m not a liar!” It stops dive-bombing him and floats midair as he tries to pull the remainder of the cape out from under the dead weight of the guardian. “Take his mask off,” the Ghost says urgently. Jolyon stops. The cloth slips from his hands, and he turns to the Ghost slowly. 

“No. No. You can’t be serious.”

The Ghost floats midair, almost unmoving. “Take the mask off, and you’ll understand.”

Jolyon is afraid that he already does. Hands shaking, he reaches for the corpse’s mask. The crack from the bullet hole he made reveals blue skin. It can’t be. It can’t be. But it is. “You didn’t,” he whispers. Tenderly, he lifts the mask up. His breath catches as his fears are confirmed: In his arms is the corpse of Uldren Sov.

The Ghost watches him, finally speaking. “He’s kind of a bullet magnet, isn’t he?” It jokes weakly. Part of Jolyon wants to embrace Uldren, but he forces himself to back away from the corpse. It looks identical to Uldren, but it has that insidious white streak in its hair. Everything that had happened had left a mark on Uldren after all. Jolyon closes his eyes. His mind flashes back to the prison where they had taken the traitor prince. Uldren had looked him in the eyes, right in his face, and hadn’t known him.

“You brought him back? After everything? Couldn’t you just let him rest?”

The robot twirls toward him, seeming frustrated. “I wasn’t sure if it was right. I still might turn out to be wrong. But he’s a talented guardian. This way, he can do some good for the Awoken and the people of Earth.”

“How does the City feel about it?” Jolyon asks, exasperatedly. The Ghost makes a shrugging motion.

“The Vanguard… Ikora and Zavala don’t know yet. I’m going to give him missions out here, for now. That’s what the mask is for, too. They deserve time to grieve.” It looks down, thinking. “You’re the first person to find out.”

Jolyon stares at the robot, falling to his knees. He might be in shock. Nothing feels real, right now. The Ghost is thankfully patient with him, though he wonders if he should be angry at it-him. Isn’t this desecration of a corpse, in a way? Isn’t this taking the ultimate trophy? Is this an insult to the already tainted memory of his former friend? But he’s not. He’s only filled with fear. 

“There were reports of... something within the Dreaming City,” Jolyon says. “Are you sure it didn’t follow you?”

“Whatever curse was there, whatever black cloud followed Uldren, it released him when he died. And that’s the thing... _Uldren_ is dead. This guardian isn’t him.” His light blinks at Jolyon intently. “He doesn’t deserve to suffer for Uldren’s mistakes. And if I made a mistake, he doesn’t deserve to suffer for that either, because it wasn’t his choice.”

Jolyon stands up. He has always been terrible with secrets. This one, though, needs to stay buried. He almost laughs at that irony. He has never been able to decide if guardians were real, truly thinking beings, or if they were devious facsimiles, puppets of the Traveler’s unknowable will. Now he thinks he doesn’t want to find out.

“You can bring him back after I’ve gone. Tell him… I’m sorry I shot him. That I thought he was someone else.” The Ghost watches him leave, twisting in the air like a nervous little pinwheel. Jolyon doesn’t turn around, and travels to his ship in utter silence. He hopes he will never see this “ghost” again.


End file.
